User Guide

Welcome to EmployeeManager! Do you need to manage employees? Are you having trouble using spreadsheets? Or does your organisation not have a proper employee management system? EmployeeManager is the application for you!

EmployeeManager is a desktop application for Human Resources (HR) staff to manage employees in a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).

Here’s an overview of EmployeeManager’s features:

• Consolidate and manage employee details in a single application
• Find and sort employees by various attributes
• Easily increment salary or delete many employees at once

EmployeeManager is optimised for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, EmployeeManager can get your employee management tasks done more quickly than traditional GUI apps, so HR staff can be more efficient.

This User Guide aims to help both new and experienced users use EmployeeManager. Learn to leverage the features of EmployeeManager to make managing employees easier!

If you are a new user:

• Get started with EmployeeManager by going through the Quick start
• If you have no prior experience with CLI or require a refresher, refer to this guide

If you are an experienced user:

• Refer to the Table of contents to jump to the section that you are looking for

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Table of contents

• Table of contents
• Quick start
• How to use command line interface
• Prefix summary
• Features
  • Viewing help : help
  • Adding an employee: add
  • Listing all employees : list
  • Editing an employee : edit
  • Finding an employee by multiple attributes: find
    • Finding an employee by name: find n/
    • Finding an employee by department: find d/
    • Finding an employee by role: find r/
    • Finding an employee by email: find e/
    • Finding an employee by ID: find i/
    • Finding an employee by phone number: find p/
    • Finding an employee by salary: find s/
  • Deleting an employee : delete
  • Sorting displayed employees : sort
  • Incrementing multiple employees’ salaries: increment
  • Undoing a modification : undo
  • Redoing the previous undone command : redo
  • Importing data : import
    • GUI option
  • Exporting data : export
    • GUI option
  • Viewing command history : history
  • Clearing multiple employees’ data : clear
  • Exiting the program : exit
  • Specifying data file path
  • Saving the data
  • Editing the data file
• FAQ
• Known issues
• Command summary
• Glossary table

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Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed on your computer.
   1. Open the terminal on your computer.
      • Windows: Open Windows Search and search for “terminal”.
      • Mac: Open Spotlight Search and search for “terminal”.
      • Linux: Press Ctrl + Alt + T.
   2. Type java --version into the terminal.
   3. If you have java installed, it should look similar to this:
      
   4. Check that your version starts with 11 or higher.
   5. If you do not have Java 11 or above installed, you can download Java 11 here.

2. Download the latest EmployeeManager.jar from here.

3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your EmployeeManager. Files required to run EmployeeManager will be created in the home folder.

4. Open a command terminal, type the cd FOLDER command, substituting FOLDER with the folder path of the folder you put the jar file in.
   The cd command changes the working directory of the terminal, allowing EmployeeManager to be launched in the next step.

5. Type the java -jar EmployeeManager.jar command to run the application.
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
   

6. Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it. e.g. typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window.
   Some example commands you can try:

   • list : Lists all employees.

   • add i/A00001 n/John Doe p/97328601 e/johndoe@example.com d/Marketing r/Manager s/5000 : Adds an employee named John Doe to EmployeeManager.

   • delete 2 : Deletes the 2nd contact shown in the current list.

   • exit : Exits the app.

7. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

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How to use command line interface

1. Click on the command box.

2. Type the command word.
   • Example: add is the command word for adding an employee.
3. Follow the command format of the command and type the prefixes and/or fields required.
   • Refer to the Features for the details on the command format for each command.
   • Example: i/A00001 n/John Doe p/97328601 e/johndoe@example.com d/Marketing r/Manager s/5000.
4. Press enter to execute the command.
   • add i/A00001 n/John Doe p/97328601 e/johndoe@example.com d/Marketing r/Manager s/5000 is executed to add an employee named John Doe.

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Prefix summary

The prefixes are commonly used in commands such as add, edit, find, and sort. The table below provides a summary on the corresponding prefix for each employee’s attribute.

The constraint for the attributes are listed in the table below. The constraint only applies to the add and edit commands where the attribute value must fit the constraint for the command to succeed.

Prefix	Attribute	Constraint (only applies to add & edit commands)
d/	Department	Alphanumeric characters and whitespaces only
e/	Email	Valid email address format
i/	Employee ID	Alphanumeric characters only
n/	Name	Alphanumeric characters and whitespaces only
p/	Phone	Numerical with at least 3 digits
r/	Role	Alphanumeric characters and whitespaces only
s/	Salary	Numerical value up to 2 decimal point, and up to one billion

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Features

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to use the commands and where to look for more detailed help. In cases where the help window is already open but minimized, executing the help command will not trigger a new window popup.

Format: help

Adding an employee: add

Adds an employee to EmployeeManager.

Format: add i/ID n/NAME p/PHONE e/EMAIL d/DEPARTMENT r/ROLE s/SALARY

• If there already exists an employee with a certain ID in EmployeeManager, adding another employee with the same ID will not be allowed.

Examples:

• add i/A00001 n/John Doe p/97328601 e/johndoe@example.com d/Marketing r/Manager s/5000 Adds an employee John Doe into the list.
• Adding John Doe into EmployeeManager followed by executing add i/A00001 n/Betsy Crowe p/82517642 e/betsycrowe@example.com d/Finance r/Intern s/1200.11 will not add Betsy into the list.

Listing all employees : list

Shows a list of all employees in EmployeeManager.

Format: list

Editing an employee : edit

Edits an existing employee in EmployeeManager.

Format: edit INDEX [i/ID] [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [d/DEPARTMENT] [r/ROLE] [s/SALARY]

• Edits the employee at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed employee list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• If there already exists an employee with a certain ID in EmployeeManager, editing another employee to the same ID will not be allowed.
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st employee to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower Edits the name of the 2nd person to be Betsy Crower.

Finding an employee by multiple attributes: find

Finds the employees that satisfy the find requirements based on multiple attributes.

Format: find [i/KEYWORD] [n/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [p/KEYWORD] [e/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [d/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [r/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [s/LOWERBOUND - UPPERBOUND]

• Find command must be used with at least one prefix and the keyword for the prefix must not be empty.
• Find command for all attributes are case-insensitive.
• Finds employees whose attributes satisfy all the search parameters.

Examples:

• find i/A00 n/alex p/9001 returns employees whose ID contains A00, name matches the word alex and phone number contains 9001.

Finding an employee by name: find n/

Find employees whose name matches at least one of the keywords in full.

Format: find n/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]

• The order of the keywords does not matter.
• Only full keywords will be matched.
• Employees whose name matches at least one keyword will be returned.

Examples:

• find n/John return employees with names john and John Doe.
• find n/alex david returns employees with names Alex Yeoh, David Li.

Finding an employee by department: find d/

Find employees whose department matches at least one of the keywords in full.

Format: find d/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]

• Works the same as finding an employee by name.

Finding an employee by role: find r/

Find employees whose role matches at least one of the keywords in full.

Format: find r/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]

• Works the same as finding an employee by name.

Finding an employee by email: find e/

Find employees whose email contains at least one of the keywords.

Format: find e/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]

• The order of the keywords does not matter.
• Email will be matched if it contains a keyword.
• Email containing at least one keyword will be returned.

Examples:

• find e/alex bernice returns employees with emails alexyeoh@example.com, bernicetan@example.com.

Finding an employee by ID: find i/

Finds employees whose ID contains the keyword.

Format: find i/KEYWORD

• The command will find employees whose ID contains the keyword.

Examples:

• find i/A00 returns employees with IDs A00, A00001 and a0001.

Finding an employee by phone number: find p/

Find employees whose phone number contains the keyword.

Format: find p/KEYWORD

• Works the same as finding an employee by ID.

Finding an employee by salary: find s/

Finds employees whose salaries fall within the range of LOWERBOUND to UPPERBOUND inclusive of LOWERBOUND and UPPERBOUND.

Format: find s/LOWERBOUND - UPPERBOUND

• The LOWERBOUND cannot be larger than the UPPERBOUND.
• There must be a spacing before and after the dash
• LOWERBOUND and UPPERBOUND must be non-negative integers and cannot be larger than 1000000000.

Examples:

• find s/1000 - 5000 returns employees with salaries 1000.00, 4321.10, 5000.00.

Deleting an employee : delete

Deletes the specified employee from EmployeeManager.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the employee at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed employee list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd person in EmployeeManager.
• find n/Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st person in the results of the find command.

Sorting displayed employees : sort

Sorts the displayed list based on the specified employee’s attribute in ascending order. EmployeeManager will automatically re-sort the displayed list based on the last specified attribute after any command that updates the data. This will ensure that the list remains sorted even after modifications.

Format: sort [i/] [d/] [e/] [s/] [r/] [n/] [p/]

• Exactly one of the prefix must be specified.
• The prefix specifies the attribute to be sorted with. Refer to the Prefix summary for help on the mapping of the attribute and prefix.
• Attributes are sorted by lexicographical order. For example, “Alice” comes before “Bob”, and “10” comes before “20”. Keep in mind uppercase letters come before lowercase letters. For example, Z comes before a.
• Extraneous parameters entered after the prefix will be ignored.
  • E.g. sort s/123 will sort by salary, the value 123 will be ignored.
  • E.g. sort s/p/, p/ is treated as a value and not a prefix. Since the value p/ is ignored, the command will sort by salary.

Examples:

• sort i/ sorts the list by ID.
• sort d/ sorts the list by department.
• sort e/ sorts the list by email.
• sort s/ sorts the list by salary.
• sort r/ sorts the list by role.
• sort n/ sorts the list by name.
• sort p/ sorts the list by phone.

Incrementing multiple employees’ salaries: increment

Increments the salaries of all employees in the displayed list in EmployeeManager by the given increment.

Format: increment INCREMENT

• INCREMENT can be positive or negative.
• INCREMENT is invalid if INCREMENT causes the salary of any employee in the displayed list to fall below 0 or exceed the maximum salary. Should this happen, an error message identifying the first employee whose adjusted salary falls outside the allowed range will be shown.
• INCREMENT can have at most 2 decimals.

Examples:

• increment 1000 increments the salaries of all employees in the displayed list by 1000.
• increment -100.65 decrements the salaries of all employees in the displayed list by 100.65.

Undoing a modification : undo

Restores EmployeeManager to the state before the last command that made a modification to the data in EmployeeManager. Such commands include add, delete, edit, clear, increment and redo.

Format: undo

Examples:

• clear followed by undo restores EmployeeManager to the state before clear was executed.
• delete 3 followed by sort n/ followed by undo restores EmployeeManager to the state before delete 3 was executed.

Redoing the previous undone command : redo

Restores EmployeeManager to the state before the last undo as long as no command that made a modification to the data in EmployeeManager was executed since the last undo. Commands that change the data in EmployeeManager include add, delete, edit, clear, increment and undo.

Format: redo

Examples:

• clear followed by undo, followed by adding John and then redo will show No more commands to redo!.
• delete 3 followed by undo followed by find n/alex, then redo restores EmployeeManager to the state after delete 3 was executed.

Importing data : import

Imports an EmployeeManager data file into the application.

Format: import FILE_PATH

• Please refer to Specifying data file path for help on usage of FILE_PATH.
• The data file must be of .json file type. Otherwise, an error message will be shown.
• The file path must be valid, and the application must have permission to read from the file.
• No changes will be made if the data file is invalid or not found.

Examples:

• import ./persons.json imports the persons.json data file from the same folder as EmployeeManager.

GUI option

Alternatively, you may use the GUI option to import the data file if you are unfamiliar with file paths.

1. Click File > Import in the top left corner of the application.
   

2. The file explorer will open and prompt you to select the data file. Only .json files can be selected as that is the expected format of the data file. The file explorer will look different depending on your operating system.
   

3. After opening your data file, EmployeeManager will attempt to load the data into the application.

Exporting data : export

Exports the data file in EmployeeManager to the specified path.

Format: export FILE_PATH

• Please refer to Specifying data file path for help on usage of FILE_PATH.
• The data file must be of .json file type. Otherwise, an error message will be shown.
• The file path must be valid, and the application must have permission to save to the file path.
• Depending on your system and user permission, you might not be allowed to save to certain folders such as C:\Windows. EmployeeManager will show an error message in such scenarios.

Examples:

• export ./data.json will create the data file in the same folder as EmployeeManager.

GUI option

Alternatively, you may use the GUI option to export the data file if you are unfamiliar with file paths.

1. Click File > Export in the top left corner of the application.
   

2. The file explorer will open and prompt you to save the data file. The file explorer will look different depending on your operating system.
   

3. After selecting your save location, EmployeeManager will attempt to save the data into the specified location.

   • The file explorer will save the file as a .json file format.
   • The data file can be given any valid name, e.g. abc_pte_ltd.json as shown in the image above.
   • Valid file name is dependent on the operating system.

Viewing command history : history

Displays up to the last N valid user commands that have been executed, starting from the previous command. If the number of valid user commands is less than N, it shows all valid user commands that have been executed. Do note that history will only show you the executed commands for this session - it resets each time you close and relaunch EmployeeManager.

Format: history N

• N specifies the number of most recent valid commands to be displayed, not inclusive of the current history command.
• N must be a positive integer that is less than or equal to 1000.

Examples:

• history 5 displays up to the last 5 valid user commands.
• history 1 displays the most recent valid user command.
• history 10 displays up to the last 10 valid user commands. If fewer than 10 commands have been executed, all available commands are shown.

Clearing multiple employees’ data : clear

Clears the current displayed list of entries from EmployeeManager.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Specifying data file path

The data file path used in export and import command must refer to a .json file. The extension .json is also case-sensitive. Valid file paths also depends on the operating system (OS). Listed below are examples of different file path formats and their result.

Path	Description
data.json	The file data.json in the same directory where EmployeeManager.jar is located in.
/Documents/data.json	The slash / at the front represent an absolute file path from root of the current drive. E.g. It might point to C:/Documents/data.json in Windows.
Documents/data.json	With no slash / at the front, it is a relative path from the directory where EmployeeManager.jar is located in.
./data.json	A dot . at the front is also a relative path from the directory where EmployeeManager.jar is located in.

• Valid files names can consist only of the extension without a name e.g. .json. On most systems, the file will be treated as a hidden file and only visible by changing settings. It is thus not recommended to export data file without a name.

Saving the data

EmployeeManager data are saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

EmployeeManager automatically saves your data as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/employeemanager.json. For advanced users, you have the option to directly modify this data file to update records. After editing, simply restart EmployeeManager to view the updated changes.

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FAQ

Q1: How do I transfer my data to another computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and replace the default data file it creates with the data file of your previous EmployeeManager.

Q2: Are the employees listed in the order of id or name?
A: No, the employees are not listed in any explicit order. Newly added employees will be placed at the end of the list.

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Known issues

1. When using multiple screens, if you move the application to a secondary screen, and later switch to using only the primary screen, the GUI will open off-screen. The remedy is to delete the preferences.json file created by the application before running the application again.

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Command summary

Action	Format, Examples
Add	add i/ID n/NAME p/PHONE e/EMAIL d/DEPARTMENT r/ROLE s/SALARY e.g.,add i/A00001 n/John Doe p/97328601 e/johndoe@example.com d/Marketing r/Manager s/5000
Clear	clear
Delete	delete INDEX e.g., delete 2
Edit	edit INDEX [i/ID] [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [d/DEPARTMENT] [r/ROLE] [s/SALARY] e.g., edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com, edit 2 n/Betsy Crower
Exit	exit
Export	export FILE_PATH e.g., export ./data.json
Find	find [i/KEYWORD] [n/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [p/KEYWORD] [e/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [d/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [r/KEYWORD [OTHER KEYWORD]] [s/LOWERBOUND - UPPERBOUND] e.g., find n/John, find i/A00 p/9001, find r/executive manager
History	history N e.g., history 2
Increment	increment INCREMENT e.g., increment 1000, increment -100.65
Import	import FILE_PATH e.g., import ./data.json
List	list
Redo	redo
Sort	sort [i/] [d/] [e/] [s/] [r/] [n/] [p/] e.g., sort i/, sort n/, sort p/
Undo	undo

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Glossary table

Term	Description
CLI	Stands for Command Line Interface and it is a means of interacting with a computer program by inputting lines of text called command-lines.
GUI	Stands for Graphical User Interface and it uses icons, menus and a mouse (to click on the icon or pull down the menus) to manage interaction with the system.
File Path	A file path is the location of a file or folder in a computer’s file system. It specifies where a file is located on the computer.
Working Directory	The working directory is the folder in which the user is currently operating in the command line.